Our testing methods
All tests were run three times, and their results were averaged, using the following test systems.
| IT7 MAX | IT7 MAX2 V2.0 | SY-P4X400 | |
| Processor | Intel Pentium 4 2.4B | ||
| Front-side bus | 533MHz (4x133MHz) | ||
| Chipset | Intel 845E | Intel 845PE | VIA P4X400 |
| North bridge | Intel 82845E (MCH) | Intel 82845PE (MCH) | VIA VT8754 |
| South bridge | Intel 82801DB (ICH4) | VIA VT8235 | |
| Chipset driver | Intel 4.10.1012 Intel Application Accelerator 2.2.2 |
VIA 4n1 4.43 | |
| Memory size | 512MB (2 DIMMs) | ||
| Memory type | Corsair XMS3000 CAS 2 PC2700 DDR SDRAM | ||
| Graphics | Visiontek GeForce4 Ti 4600 | ||
| Graphics driver | NVIDIA Detonator 40.72 | ||
| Storage | Maxtor 740X-6L 40GB 7200RPM ATA/133 hard drive |
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| Operating System | Windows XP Professional SP1 | ||
Today we're comparing the SY-P4X400 DRAGON Ultra to a couple of Pentium 4 boards from Abit. The benchmarks will contrast the SY-P4X400 DRAGON Ultra's performance against the 845E-based IT7 MAX and 845PE-based IT7 MAX2 V2.0, but we'll just be running through our standard set of motherboard benchmarks rather than examining chipset performance in detail. To get a better look at the current Pentium 4 chipset landscape, check out our latest Pentium 4 chipset comparison.
We used the following versions of our test applications:
- SiSoft Sandra Standard 2003
- ZD Media Business Winstone 2002 1.0.1
- ZD Media Content Creation Winstone 2002 1.0.1
- ZD Media WinBench 99 Version 2
- MadOnion 3DMark2001 SE
- Unreal Tournament 2003 demo
- Serious Sam SE
The test systems' Windows desktop was set at 1024x768 in 32-bit color at a 75Hz screen refresh rate. Vertical refresh sync (vsync) was disabled for all tests. Most of the 3D gaming tests used the high detail image quality settings, with the exception that the resolution was set to 640x480 in 32-bit color.
All the tests and methods we employed are publicly available and reproducible. If you have questions about our methods, hit our forums to talk with us about them.
